Accidents happen during training: Army chief

7 months ago

Jan 13, 2018

IANS

New Delhi, Jan 12 : Maintaining that soldiers accept that accidents happen during training, Army chief General Bipin Rawat on Friday said the accident during a drill ahead of Army Day parade, in which three soldiers were injured, will not affect the morale of the troops.

"We accept casualties during training; we have had accidents during training," General Rawat said.

The Army chief cited the examples of road accidents and bursting of gun barrels during training, and failure of parachutes to open.

He said the helicopter and boom had been used many times in the past, and called the accident as unfortunate. He, however, added that it did not mean the Army will stop performing those activities.

"The boom of the helicopter broke. It can happen due to various reasons. It should not have happened, but it has happened... we will carry out investigation but it does not mean it will cause demotivation to our people," he said.

"The same boom has been used on numerous occasions. Is it because of structural weakness, is it that we have to now say that a boom can only be used for so much period, or do we need to have x-ray machines to check cracks," he said.

Three soldiers were injured in a freak accident during a drill, when soldiers abseiling from a chopper fell on the ground below following a boom malfunctioning. The injury to the three soldiers, undergoing treatment, is "not life threatening".